


Unwind

by wickedlupin



Category: Tales of Xillia
Genre: Alcohol, Drunken Flirting, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-27
Updated: 2020-10-27
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:27:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,542
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27219382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wickedlupin/pseuds/wickedlupin
Summary: Jude accidentally drinks a bit too much at Film Noir after a long day, but the words that fall from his mouth are things he'd say sober, anyway.
Relationships: Jude Mathis/Ludger Will Kresnik
Comments: 6
Kudos: 18





	Unwind

**Author's Note:**

> A little prompt (unwinding/alcohol) from @secretagentfan to help me get my ludju juices flowing again!

Jude stumbled on the last step at the top of the stairs. Behind him, Ludger chuckled, and Jude felt his warm hand land on his back to help steady him.

“…Thanks,” Jude mumbled, feeling his face heat up. Ludger only nodded when Jude peeked back at him.

Alvin’s idea of unwinding after the daily job hunt was to kick back a few beers in Film Noir. Ludger was more enthusiastic to join him than Jude had expected, and, rather enamored with his new friend, Jude had tagged along with them.

“You even got the do-gooder to join in, nice job!” Alvin had boasted, clapping Ludger on the back.

“Oh, no,” Jude had protested, holding his hands in front of him, “I’m not planning on drinking.”

But then Ludger and Alvin were laughing, having a great time together. Jude found himself staring at Ludger’s joyful face, appreciating this side of him that never seemed to come out when it was just the two of them. Jude usually saw more of his insecurities, felt a tender fondness and trust spread between them with ever glance, every nudge of a shoulder. But Alvin knew another side of Ludger: someone who was goofy, boisterous, a little ridiculous.

As Jude sipped his drink, his heart turned to mush, and his brain joined it. He realized too late that he had picked up Alvin’s drink instead of his own, distracted by blue-green eyes that creased at the corners, seated above an infectious grin.

“You can stay in a room upstairs, you little lightweight,” Alvin promised him, laughing and patting his shoulder.

“What about Ludger?” Jude blurted, his usually poor impulse control depleted further from drink.

Ludger’s laughter-filled eyes had faded into something softer. His smile was fond, his expression falling into tender sincerity.

“I’ll stay, too.”

Jude fell a little further in love.

Ludger opened the door to their room, watching Jude as he measured his steps, doing his best to make it in without embarrassing himself. He heard Ludger laugh again—not the joyful, boisterous laughter he’d heard downstairs, but the quiet chuckle that was reserved for Jude. He turned to look at him, blinking a bit to focus.

“What’s so funny?”

Ludger’s cheeks held a tinge of pink. Jude drank in the detail, before his gaze dropped to Ludger’s hands, carefully closing the door behind himself.

“Nothing. I’ve never seen you like this.”

It wasn’t Jude’s _first_ time drinking. He’d been around Alvin's bad influence more than enough, and his curiosity about the human body led to a certain desire to experience intoxication firsthand. He’d ended up on the floor of the bar the first time, trying and failing to see lesser spirits in the air around him—until Alvin had reminded him they were in _Elympios._ It was enough to sate Jude’s curiosity, but left him with a massive hangover and enough embarrassment to refrain from indulging again.

“Never seen you like this, either,” Jude countered lamely. Ludger laughed again.

“Sit down.”

Jude did as he was told. The bed creaked a bit beneath him. He realized for the first time how dimly lit and dingy the room was, signature to Duval. He didn’t recall laying down, but his eyes found the ceiling fan above him, and he sighed. “Huh. I’m laying down.”

The mattress dipped beside him, and Jude turned his head to find Ludger close enough to feel his body heat.

“Yeah?”

“…I didn’t mean to say that out loud.”

“What else are you thinking, then?”

_Don’t ask me that,_ Jude thought, staring up at Ludger’s gorgeous features. His dyed bangs fell into his eyes a bit, but didn’t quite cover them. Jude desperately wanted to reach up and run his fingers through it, to push it out of his face and just stare at him for hours.

“You act different with Alvin,” Jude’s mouth provided instead.

Ludger looked a little thrown.

“It’s not a bad thing,” Jude continued quickly, “It doesn’t mean you’re… two-faced, or anything. He brings out a different side of you than I do. I think it’s… interesting.”

“Interesting?”

Jude felt his mouth curl into a small smile. “The many sides of Ludger.”

His lips tingled slightly from the alcohol, and he brought his fingers up to rest on his lower lip.

“It’s a little like linking, I guess,” Jude continued, his thoughts turning themselves into words a little more readily than they might have on any other night. “The artes you can use with each link partner are different… just like how every relationship is unique to the people in it.”

“What do you think our relationship is like?” Ludger asked him, and Jude felt warmth spread through him, all the way to his fingertips that remained resting on his lip.

“I’m still figuring that out, I guess,” he said quietly. “I feel safe around you. Secure. You’re so dependable, and gentle… I feel like I can understand you, and you understand me, too.”

Ludger’s face was pleasantly flushed. “You’re drunk.”

Jude blinked. “…Not that drunk.” The alcohol may have made his words tumble out easier, but these were all things he’d say sober just as well. He’d always been an open book. Maybe it was something he needed to work on—but he didn’t particularly want to hide his feelings, either.

Ludger’s gaze fell on him again, and Jude found himself holding his breath. When he was so close like this, it was easy to see the light ring of gold around his pupils.

Ludger broke his eyes away and brought his hand up to rub the back of his head. “Right.”

“Sorry,” Jude said automatically, though he didn’t feel all that remorseful. “I tend to just… say what’s on my mind.”

Ludger shook his head. “I like that about you.”

Jude’s heart desperately clung onto that statement.

He was used to his feelings being unrequited. Jude was a man of many crushes; he’d done this song and dance time and time again. His feelings were always out in the open, willing him to get hurt again, for the subject of his affection to leave before he could voice any of it himself, on his own terms. He was sure this would be no different, no matter how his crush on Ludger grew.

But Ludger was so _close._ He and Milla had never quite been in the same place, with different roles to play in this world. With Ludger, he felt like their hearts were always linked, even when they weren’t on the battlefield.

Ludger’s hand hovered over his own now, and his fingers gently touched down atop his calloused knuckles. Jude stared up at him, frozen in awe, as he moved his fingers aside and rubbed his thumb over Jude’s tingling lower lip.

He suddenly froze and blinked down at Jude, pulling his hand away again as though spooked. The light flush on his cheeks deepened and crept down his neck.

“Sorry,” he said quickly, shaking his head at himself, “I’m a little drunk myself.”

Jude let out all his breath at once, putting his hands over his face. “I thought you were about to kiss me.”

“Yeah. Me too.”

_Huh?_

Jude laughed, a high-pitched, slightly hysteric sound.

“That was stupid,” Ludger said with his own nervous laugh.

“…You wanted to?”

Ludger didn’t answer right away, so Jude peeked out from between his fingers. Ludger glanced at him, then looked away once again.

“Don’t make me answer that.” His voice came out in a pathetic sort of whine.

Hopeful curiosity surged through Jude’s chest, and he sat up, pausing for a moment to let his head stop spinning. When he was able to focus his gaze again, it fell on Ludger’s bright green eyes, framed by his beautiful blushing face. Jude leaned forward a bit, balanced shakily on his hands and knees, and pressed a light kiss to Ludger’s cheek.

As soon as he did it, dizzying embarrassment washed over him again.

Ludger didn’t move, his mouth dropped open slightly. Jude took this as a cue that it was _time for bed._ He sloppily pulled back the covers and crawled under, still in his street clothes.

“Sorry, Ludger,” he babbled, “I can’t think about what I just did, so I’m just going to go to sleep, I hope you don’t mind.”

From the foot of the bed, Jude heard Ludger sigh audibly.

“…Missed.”

Jude chanced one more look at Ludger. “Huh?”

“You missed,” Ludger repeated, and Jude watched, baffled as he crawled over him. Their lips locked together, a little rough, a little sloppy, but with the perfect taste and feeling of _Ludger._ Jude felt his heart open up and swallow him whole.

Ludger pulled back, looking down at Jude through his fringe. Jude reached up and pushed it out of his face, more than satisfied. With the thick comforter between them, Jude realized he was uncomfortably warm, but he didn’t want to move.

His brain was still turning, and suddenly, words weren’t coming to him so easily. He couldn’t seem to form a single thought.

“We should… talk about this when we’re sober,” Jude acknowledged, his eyebrows knitting together as he fought with his tongue.

“Yeah,” Ludger agreed, his face still wonderfully red. “Good call.”


End file.
